COMBAT AVIATION: Flight Path 1968-2018

Combat aircraft a powerful component of military strength define the battle space today. In the last five decades world combat aircraft inventory after peaking in 1988 gradually declined owing to changes in the geopolitical landscape altering character of war evolving technology and emerging alternatives. Today there are 106 countries in the world that own and operate around 80 types of approximately 18000 combat aircraft. But there are only 19 countries that have more than 200 combat aircraft in their inventories. In this book the available data of the worlds combat aircraft inventory is analysed for the trends and probable reasons for changes in the holdings before predicting the future trajectory of manned combat aircraft. Additionally the role of combat aircraft and their interplay with various tenets of Indian air power capability and the likely future is discussed.Combat aircraft a powerful component of military strength need a large resource investment in procurement and operations. The world had around 18000 combat aircraft in 1968 and fifty years later the combat aircraft inventory is again almost at that level today. In five decades the combat aircraft inventory peaked to near 38000 in 1988. Changes in the geopolitical landscape altering character of war evolving technology and emerging alternatives led to its gradual decline thereafter. Today there are 106 countries in the world that own and operate around 80 types of approximately 18000 combat aircraft. But there are only 19 countries that havemore than 200 combat aircraft in their inventories. In this book the available data of the combat aircraft inventory of the world is analysed for the trends and probable reasons for changes in the holdings before predicting the future trajectory of manned combat aircraft. Additionally the role of combat aircraft and its interplay with various tenets of Indian air power capability and likely future is discussed.